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The Game Of Life by Dr. Lindamichellebaron

7/17/2020

Dear Friends, Family and Fans,
I love playing tennis. Yet, I am inconsistent. Practice is supposed to make perfect. And I practice winter, spring, summer, and fall. I even drive from Hempstead to Queens, to Harlem and even to Westchester. I’m not much better now than I was when I first began playing. Perhaps, because I started playing better than most. Great eye-hand coordination; good physical shape; high energy; willing to hustle to get the ball. I still have all that, but the object of the game is to make the point. And do it consistently.

There are days when Serena better watch herself. I’m on fire. Hitting the all the balls, making the points. But most days, the only love I get on the court is my score. Hey, I still stay in the game. That’s my modus operandi. God gave me gifts that range from good; to great; to not so much. But I keep showing up and I keep playing. I refuse to quit. I keep giving it my best shot. I play to win as many points as I can. I give myself permission to enjoy the game, even when I miss the ball; even when my eyes aren’t on the ball I’m going to stay "in it" doing all I can to eventually "win it." I invite all of us into the game of life. Keep playing your best game. The game of tennis is a good analogy for life. Even when you aren’t winning any points you can end up with a score of love.
Love and realness,
#lindamichellebaron
www.mylindamichellebaron.com

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Have Faith In Spite Of by Dr. Lindamichellebaron

7/11/2020

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Dear Friends, Family and Fans,
Faith is When You Believe In Spite Of
You don’t need faith when the very laws of nature are in play. When you throw a ball in the air you don’t need faith to know it will fall down. If you practice 8 hours a day, everyday you don’t need faith to shoot the ball through a hoop and score. You’ve practiced and prepared for it. Swish! You need faith in the beginning, when you can barely bounce the ball. You need faith when you shoot the ball and it doesn’t even tap the hoop. You need faith to keep practicing in spite of folks belly laughing at your attempts. Faith allows you to believe “you can” when everything screams, “you can’t.” Then with faith,"Swish!" I'm just saying...if I don't have anything else, I have faith. A faith that passes understanding. I probably have at least a hundred examples, but one is so concrete that twenty years later I still love to tell it. Eight in the morning, floppy disc with my entire dissertation in hand, looking for a business with printing services. I needed a hard copy to submit to Columbia’s Teacher’s College, within the hour, or it would take another year for me to graduate. Finally I located one, only to be told that the printer was not functioning, and had not been worked since the day before. The repairman was not expected until later in the afternoon. I looked directly at the clerk and asked him to “Please, try it.” I would not be moved. God did not carry me this far to allow a malfunctioning machine to stop me now. The clerk glared at me. Was I serious? Did I have a learning disability or was I just hard of hearing? “Lady, the printer is not working.” I looked directly at the clerk again and said, “I heard you. Now will you please try it.” Obviously exasperated, he snatched the disc out of my hand, turned on the printer, pressed the button, looked at me and said, “Are you satisfied!” Maybe thirty seconds later…the sound of paper…about 196 sheets, with my precious words, spat out. Yes, I was more than satisfied. Get thee behind me Satan. I’m Dr. Baron today. Swish!

Love and realness,
#lindamichellebaron
www.mylindamichellebaron.com

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I Like Doing What I Like To Do by Dr. Lindamichellebaron

7/3/2020

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Dear Friends, Family and Fans,
I like doing what I like to do.
This statement seems simplistic at best.
Don’t we all like doing what we like to do?
The problem, for most of us is that we don’t spend most of our time doing it. Much of our time is spent avoiding what we don’t like, procrastinating, and then painfully doing it anyway. Is it better to beg, barter, or pay for the freedom of doing more of what you like? My answer is “maybe.”

One of my responsibilities as an elementary student was to iron my blouses for school. Blouses were cotton. Cotton was very different back in the day. Not a blend. Not wash and wear. Rough dried. Wrinkles on top of wrinkles. I’d have to sprinkle water, roll them up, and then carefully press with a super-hot iron. Maybe spray starch, as well. This was one of my least favorite things to do, but girls and boys needed white shirts for assembly every Friday. This particular week, all four of my white blouses were washed and rough dried. School assembly was the next day. What’s a girl to do?

I received a dollar allowance every week for much of my growing up. A dollar, in my world, was worth 200 pieces of a variety of candies, and gum; ten Ring Dings; or one movie. Or a dollar could pay for what I didn’t want to do. My idea was clear. Ask my aunt to complete the task I dreaded, for a fee, in order for me to have more time to do what I enjoyed. As far as I was concerned, paying her my allowance freed me to do something I liked to do: rollerskate; ride my bicycle; cut out paper dolls; or read. I mean, it was .25 cents a blouse. Totally worth it to me!

I did have multiple streams of income back them. I returned soda bottles (5 cents for the large bottles, two cents for the small.) I was a PK (preacher’s kid). Parishioners often gave my brother and me a quarter or even a dollar on Sundays. I certainly loved my grandparents, but in addition to the love they sometimes gave us an extra dollar.
But if I didn’t have the finances, I might have tried to barter, for instance, offer to go to the store for my aunt when she didn’t want to go. The only snag would be, as a child you don’t have much to barter with because if adults told you to do something, you just did it.

There is just so much time in a day. You can’t get everything done, especially if you try to do it all yourself. So now I’m all grown up. And I still like doing what I like to do. So, I prioritize. I find opportunities to choose what brings me joy, and make the time to do them. I have to decide which things must be done, that only I can do; cross off the time wasters; then delegate some of the other stuff. I’m still left with pain in the neck stuff…but a lot less of it and more time to enjoy. I’m willing to pay to make the time to play.
Love and realness,
#lindamichellebaron
www.mylindamichellebaron.com

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"Love and Realness"

The Game Of Life by Dr. Lindamichellebaron

Have Faith In Spite Of by Dr. Lindamichellebaron

I Like Doing What I Like To Do by Dr. Lindamichellebaron

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